In summary
An ultra-long zoom camera that produces excellent video clips with stereo sound. Image processing is rather slow and still picture quality is variable.Samsung’s new Digimax Pro815 camera is an interesting beast in several ways, combining the best features of a compact digicam (integrated lens, live preview and video capture) with much of the shooting versatility of a digital SLR. Its black polycarbonate body has the largest rear panel LCD of any still camera and a top-mounted 1.44-inch wide data LCD doubles as a viewer for waist-level shooting. A neat (and useful) concept! The fitted Schneider-Kreuznach Varioplan zoom lens covers the longest zoom range in a compact digicam (15x). [ia] . . [more]
Full review
Samsung’s new Digimax Pro815 camera is an interesting beast in several ways, combining the best features of a compact digicam (integrated lens, live preview and video capture) with much of the shooting versatility of a digital SLR. Its black polycarbonate body has the largest rear panel LCD of any still camera and a top-mounted 1.44-inch wide data LCD doubles as a viewer for waist-level shooting. A neat (and useful) concept! The fitted Schneider-Kreuznach Varioplan zoom lens covers the longest zoom range in a compact digicam (15x). [ia]
Solidly-built and comfortable to hold, the Pro815 has a well-designed grip and good ergonomics. Most controls are well located for functionality, although you must make an effort to learn what the various dials and buttons do, because the Pro815’s user interface is different from most other cameras.
The lens covers the angles of view that will suit most photographers, ranging from the equivalent to a 28mm wide-angle to a 420mm tele. Unusually for a long-zoom camera, the Pro815’s lens lacks image stabilisation. Instead there’s a ‘High Speed Shutter’ button which, when pressed, selects a fast shutter speed and adjusts the ISO to reduce the risk of camera shake. It’s a less satisfactory option than stabilisation but can be effective at times.
Up to 4x digital zoom is provided, though most photographers would be unlikely to use it unless the camera was tripod mounted for the shot. Digital zoom shots tend to be rather granular looking. Both zooming and manual focusing are set with lens rings and an inner ring is used to adjust exposure compensation. The pop-up flash lies along the lens barrel where it’s rather close to the lens axis and produces red eyes in flash shots. A hot-shoe for the optional SEF-42A flash sits above it.
Interestingly, the Pro815’s 8-megapixel CCD imager is larger than competing models, providing bigger photosites that capture more light. However, it’s still significantly smaller than the smallest DSLR sensor and the camera only supports ISO settings up to 400, which suggests Samsung is focusing more on image quality than low-light capability.
The test camera produced plucky images with relatively high contrast, which meant highlight detail was often lost in shots taken in bright sunlight, although little or no shadow noise was detected. Imatest showed the Pro815 to be capable of recording high colour accuracy, and saturation levels were modest to ensure natural-looking pictures. Resolution was relatively high, although some edge-softening was found in shots, even in the middle of the zoom range. Imatest also revealed moderate lateral chromatic aberration. Colour fringing was apparent in tele shots taken in bright conditions and barrel distortion was obvious at the wide lens setting. Little noise was detected in low light shots, even in long exposures at ISO 400.
Unfortunately, the test camera tended to over-expose shots in bright conditions and images were slightly over-processed, which created some sharpening artefacts, although shots had to be enlarged to make them noticeable. White balance performance was generally very good and any minor problems with colour accuracy could be easily overcome with adjustments like bracketing, Kelvin temperature setting or manual white balance measurement, all of which delivered good results and were easy to use.
Capture lag ranged from 1.2 to 2.6 seconds, depending on the amount of hunting the AF system had to do. With pre-focusing, the average shutter lag was 0.2 seconds, which is acceptable. The continuous shooting mode captures sequential shots at 2.1 second intervals, with the high-speed mode recording a burst of shots at 0.4 second intervals. Burst lengths are limited by memory capacity.
Unfortunately, image processing times were relatively slow. It took 1.9 seconds to process a 3.5MB JPEG file, 6.9 seconds for a 15.6 MB RAW file and a tedious 10.2 seconds to process a 22.9MB RAW file. The camera locks during processing and you can’t take more shots until the image file is stored.
Though not meant for movies, the Pro815 produced surprisingly good video with stereo sound. VGA clips of up to 30 seconds could be recorded at 25 frames/second but you need at least a 1GB card to use this function with any degree of satisfaction. Voice memos can also be added to captured image files. [27]
Specifications
Image sensor: 8.8 x 6.6mm CCD with 8.3 million photosites (8.0 megapixels effective)
Lens: 7.2-108mm f2.2-4.6 Schneider-Kreuznach Varioplan zoom lens (28 to 420mm in 35mm format)
Zoom ratio: 15x optical, 4x digital
Lens multiplier factor: 3.8x
Dimensions (wxhxd): 135.5 x 87 x 78.6mm
Weight: 870g (without battery and card)
Image formats: Stills – JPEG (Exif 2.2), TIFF, RAW (DNG); Movies – AVI (VGA/QVGA/QQVGA at 25/15fps)
Shutter speed range: 2 to 1/4000 seconds (to 15 sec. in manual mode)
Focus system/range: TTL auto focus (9 points multi-focusing); range 50cm to infinity; macro 10-70cm, super macro 3-70cm
Exposure metering/control: Multi, Centre-weighted, Spot metering; P, A, S and M exposure modes
White balance: Auto, daylight, cloudy, fluorescent, tungsten, custom (x2), colour temperature adjust
Flash modes/range (ISO auto): Auto, Auto &; Red-eye reduction, Fill-in, Slow sync, Slow sync &; Red-eye reduction, Flash off. Flash compensation ±2EV (1/3EV steps); range 0.7 ~ 6.0m
ISO range: Auto, ISO 50, 100, 200, 400
Sequence shooting: 2.5fps (UHS at 10 fps with 1MP resolution)
Storage Media: 64MB CompactFlash (Type I/II compatible); holds 3 RAW or 2 TIFF images or 15 high-resolution JPEGs or up to 548 VGA shots
Viewfinder: 0.44-inch colour TFT EVF
LCD monitor: 3.5-inch colour TFT LCD (115,000 dot, Status or Preview selectable)
Power supply: SLB-1974 rechargeable lithium-ion battery
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Rating
Rating (out of 10):
- Build: 8.5
- Ease of use: 8
- Image quality: 8
- OVERALL: 8